Up in the Air

So, last night I went for a drive. I drove and I drove and I drove, simply trying to find a theater playing the Oscar nominated Up in the Air. Finally, I found one, about fifty miles from my home, and I was quite relieved. I paid my admission, got some popcorn, and sat on my butt in the nice comfortable theater seat.

I sat there for several minutes, doing a checklist in my head, wondering how hard it would be to see all of these films in one month, and even if it kills me, I’ll do it. I’ve made a promise to you that I will see all of these films, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. We’re five down, five to go.

Well, I am a fan of George Clooney, even though, as my girlfriend puts it, he seems to play the same role over and over again, so I wasn’t expecting anything different from what he usually does, and to be honest with you, that’s exactly what I got, but I got so much more than I was expecting.

To be honest with you, still to this day, I have yet to see a trailer for this film. I had never really even heard of it until I saw that it came to theaters, and at that point, I heard George Clooney was in it, so I planned to see it sooner or later.

So the movie begins and literally within five minutes, I knew that I was going to love this film. It had great names in the opening credits such as Zach Galifianakis, J K Simmons, Danny McBride, Sam Elliott, Jason Bateman and even the Reitman brothers. All around a spectacular cast, and it definitely showed, but I’ll get more into that later.

We’re introduced to Ryan Bingham played by George Clooney, a man who is always flying from city to city for his job as a, well I’m not sure what the official title would be, but he’s a guy who companies hire to fire people. Well, we get to know his character a little bit, and at first, you love him, at least I did. He made me laugh at several points, but he makes you think at several points as well.

So, Ryan is told early on in the movie that to save on costs for the company, they’re going to start doing digital firings, and this is the idea of a new woman to the company named Natalie, played flawlessly by Anna Kendrick, who really hasn’t been in anything good (sorry Twilight fans, but its true).

Ryan then explains to Natalie that firing people digitally wouldn’t work, and he gives her several reasons why. So, they are then sent on the road, or the sky as you could say, and he shows her that firing people in person is much more feasible. So, basically, that’s the plot, it’s about them firing people, but getting to know the characters themselves. This truly is a character movie. We find that Ryan has a hard time connecting to people, that Natalie is too soft and that Alex (Ryan’s girlfriend whom he meets at an airport) is more than she seems to be.

You know, this movie was really well done. I do believe that it deserves its place amongst the other 9 Best Picture films. Do I think it could win? Yes, actually, I think it could. Will it? Well, I’ll make a special post talking about all 10 films after I’m done and give you my opinion, so you’ll just have to keep reading.

The casting was very well done, and I wouldn’t be surprised if George Clooney took home the Best Actor Oscar however. The editing was superb. Much like District 9, it had a documentary feel at points and really made you think, and thus you would forget that it was a movie. The running time was perfect in my eyes, at about an hour and forty minutes, it was perfect.

So yeah, overall this film is definitely one I would recommend, to anybody. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry and it will make you think. It sets out to accomplish all of those and it succeeds with, no pun intended, flying colors. I give it 9 out of 10.